Author Archives: acchrist

Jump for the New Year

Nationality: Filipino
Age: 19
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/20/16
Primary Language: Tagalog
Language: English

The informant is a freshman at USC. She’s from the Philippines, where she was born and raised. She talks about how her grandmother told her about a New year’s superstition she used to take part in visiting with her grandmother in the Philippines.

Chelsea: “My grandma told me and my cousin when we were young that when the clock strikes 12 on New year, we have to jump our age. And we’d grow taller by, like, an inch or two inches. Because it’s a New year and a new us.”

 

Me: “So in a metaphorical sense, you’re jumping your age by physically jumping?”

 

Chelsea: “Yeah, but physically jumping because we want to grow taller.”

 

Me: “Are there any rules to how many jumps or like..?”

 

Chelsea: “No, it’s like, just jump your age.”

 

Me: “So what’s the purpose of wanting to grow an inch or two?”

 

Chelsea: “I think it’s just a superstition that if you , like, jump, you’ll grow taller.”

The informant didn’t seem to know much about the reason behind growing taller, but  the idea of becoming taller and ‘jumping your age’ seems to be indicative of good connotations, whether for her family, her Filipino culture, or both. I’ve never heard of this superstition before but it seems harmless and helpful in the sense that it creates hope for Chelsea and all her family members who participate in the superstition to grow taller. It also seems like a way her grandmother used to connect with the children.

‘The Tide Decides…’

Nationality: Ethiopian/ Hawaiian
Age: 19
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/15/16
Primary Language: English

The informant is a freshman at the University of Southern California. Over Spring break, she vacationed in Hawaii where she met a local in Maui, Hawaii.  He was working at a tattoo parlor and is originally from Maui. The local was able to communicate a folkloric proverb to Elshadaii that he found significant to Hawaiian culture. Elshadaii was able to pass it down to me.

 

E: “This one goes, ‘the tide decides but leaves behind seashells on the sand. For every joy that passes, something beautiful remains.’”

 

Me: “ What does this mean to you?”

 

E: “Um, I think it’s basically a metaphor for the coming and going things in our lives. To me, it encompasses all of the joys that we come across and how they are beautiful in their own time but eventually everything must pass. And although that can be a sad thing, it’s better to focus on the good growth it brought us as opposed to focusing on the negatives.”

 

I feel as though this proverb perpetuates an optimistic outlook on life. The informant interpreted the proverb as saying that good things will come and go in life, but we should appreciate the growth we experienced as a result of these events. I think the proverb speaks more about being happy that certain things happened versus being sad that they are gone or over. Nonetheless, the proverb spreads a positive message and encourages readers to be more positive about the coming and going of people, experiences, etc.

 

Live Your Life While The Sun Shines

Nationality: Ethiopian/ Hawaiian
Age: 19
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/15/16
Primary Language: English

The informant is a freshman at the University of Southern California. Over Spring break, she vacationed in Hawaii where she met a local in Maui, Hawaii.  He was working at a tattoo parlor and is originally from Maui. The local was able to communicate a folkloric proverb to Elshadaii that he found significant to Hawaiian culture. Elshadaii was able to pass it down to me.  

 

E: “It goes, ‘Oi Kau ka lau, e hana ola honua,’ and it means that while the sun remains risen, you should do all that you can.”

 

M: “So what does this mean to you?”

 

E: “It’s basically saying to do all that you can while you are still alive and breathing. While the sun is still up and you have the freedom of opportunity, make the most of it! I think this is a lot like ‘Carpe Diem: Seize the Day!’”

Hawaiian: ‘Oi Kau ka lau, e hana ola honua,’

English: Live your life while the sun shines.

Roman: trăiesc viața în timp ce soarele strălucește

I feel as though there is a powerful meaning behind this proverb. I was raised to go through every day with a goal in mind, and this proverb teaches a similar lesson. Often times we forget how short life can be, and I interpreted this proverb as saying to be productive each and every day and to live life happily. The translations of the proverb serve the purpose of showing that the lesson within the proverb is universal and can be applied to everyone.

Buddha’s Noble Truths

Nationality: American
Age: 59
Residence: Dallas, TX
Performance Date: 3/18/16
Primary Language: English

The informant is 59 years old and was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. She currently resides in Dallas, Texas. Although she does not identify herself as a Buddhist, she works at a museum and learns a lot about the religious beliefs and background of Buddha. She described a statue of Buddha that she has children on field trips come to see at the museum. While they visit, she asks them questions about what and who they think the statue might represent. She shares Buddha’s story and how Siddhartha came to be known as ‘The Enlightened One.‘  

Nancy: “Well, let me start all the way back. Let’s see…long, long ago, in what is now Northern India, there was a prince who had a son, and the son’s name was Siddhartha Gautama. There was a prophecy that was made at the time that this little boy was born, that one day he would either be a great warrior or he would be uh a religious leader. So the prince, the father, uh felt that both of those possibilities were okay with him uh but in order to protect his son, he kept him within the like castle boundaries. So the son never went out uh outside beyond uh the walls. He never got to see what life was like, and uh one of the reasons too was that the father did not want him seeing some of the uh sufferings and bad things about life. Well, Siddhartha got to be kind of anxious about going out and seeing these things for himself, so he did. He was able to go out of the castle. He was on a horse who’s name I can’t remember right now. Uh and he was so amazed to see this suffering in the people, things like sickness and death and um disease. It just really started him so much that he wanted it find it more about why it was that the world had these uh attributes. So, he decided never to return  to the castle but to move out into the world and try to find the answers to why it is that this suffering takes place. So, he continued on this um exploration and he finally became Buddha, the Enlightened One. So Siddhartha became the Enlightened One, and he based his studies, his understanding on some principles such as uh, “all suffering is based in desire,” and uh there are three other noble truths, and I can’t remember what they are right now, but they are called ‘The Noble Truths’…and that explained about people and their suffering, but the idea was you had to uh meditate on this to be able to understand it, and the goal was uh to get this understanding, and once you reached that, you reached nirvana. You could die in peace. You were not continually without nirvana. You were reborn into this world and into this suffering, but finally once you understood and could practice the noble truths then you, you could reach nirvana.”

Me: “So what do you have the kids do at the museum?”

 

Nancy: “Oh. Well, the statue is there as I said, and I have them explain to me what they see. Describe the person, and they might say things like uh, “well his eyes are closed.” No, in fact they’re uh partially closed because he is contemplating. He is meditating. He has uh, well they call it “a hole in his head.” He has uh a third eye that is his eye for wisdom. He has long earlobes that have been pulled down from the weight of having very heavy jewelry, earrings and that speaks to his past. Another things that I add is uh this is just the head of the Buddha. It is from the neck and it’s obvious that it’s uh been broken off, and I talk them about that. Why do you think that happened? And they do talk about it in terms of, well it might have been, it could have been, we don’t know, an earthquake or water erosion, and finally, usually someone comes up with, “Oh, it might’ve occurred uh in warring circumstances where uh groups of people were fighting each other and attacked and broke apart these statues,” and that’s where I leave it, is that they understand not only the physical, natural things that could happen, but also humanity uh mankind can have impatience and uh strike out against other people’s symbols of comfort and so on.”

This piece of folklore was quite informative about the beginnings of Buddhism. I did not know the story of Siddartha Guatama before hearing this, and it was interesting to hear the origin of such a renown religion. It never occurred to me that nirvana had a direct path through what is known as the Noble Truths. The story did not go into detail about what the truths were, so I’d like to know more about them and how they could possibly be similar to the moral codes of other religions. It’s a good thing that the artifacts of this religion are still kept in museums, for it keeps the origin story alive.

Tibetan Book Covers

Nationality: American
Age: 59
Residence: Dallas, TX
Performance Date: 3/18/16
Primary Language: English

The informant is 59 years old and was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. She currently resides in Dallas, Texas. Although she is not Buddhist herself, she works at a museum and learns a lot about the religious beliefs. She describes a very important folk artifact that has been preserved throughout time in effort to tell a story of the Buddha.

 

Nancy: “What I’m talking about now are Tibetan book covers. Tibetan book covers are made of wood and they’re about maybe four inches by twelve inches, something like that, a rectangular shape. They, uh enclosed- so you have several of them- they enclosed scrolls that were, uh the products of uh monks who had written out the Sutras of the Buddha, the teachings of the Buddha. These books covers would be bound by beautiful silks and everything tightly formed and they would be stored in, you know, virtually libraries of these boxes or covers, and they continued to exist until the cultural revolution of the communist Chinese. This would be years like 1960’s-70’s something like that where anything that was old was no longer revered. It was a complete upheaval of the culture that uh respected, uh age and respected elders and so on. So those sutras and pieces were destroyed and what remains are these wood covers, and this is what has been collected by some people, and are now going to be displayed in a exhibition at the Crow Collection.”

 

This was a lot of new, interesting information about a folk object meaningful to a specific religious group. These Tibetan book covers have survived many periods of history that have served to create their story, and I think it is important to preserve these objects so that people (Buddhists especially) are able to learn more about their culture and connect through these special artifacts. The books indicate that the people valued sutras of the Buddha, perhaps striving to live by his teachings. Because the sutras have been destroyed and we are no longer able to access certain information, the sacred wood covers are necessary for preservation and protection.